Monday 24 September 2012 05.32 EDT
First published on Monday 24 September 2012 05.32 EDT

China has spared the high-flying police chief whose flight to a US consulate led to the toppling of leader Bo Xilai, with a court in Chengdu handing him a relatively lenient 15 year jail sentence on Monday.

Wang Lijun, 52, had previously been Bo's right hand man in Chongqing, winning plaudits for the pair's populist anti-gang crackdown and earning a promotion to vice mayor.

State news agency Xinhua said the Chengdu intermediate people's court found him guilty of defection, accepting bribes of at least 3 million yuan, abuse of power and bending the law to selfish ends by covering up the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood by Bo's wife Gu Kailai.

Gu was last month handed a suspended death sentence for the crime, while an aide who helped her was jailed for nine years.

"[Fifteen years] was in the realm of expectations but I would say on the low end of what most people were expecting," said Joshua Rosenzweig, an expert on the Chinese criminal justice system.

The crimes for which Wang was convicted carry penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death sentence.

The court sentenced Wang to two years imprisonment for abuse of power, two years for defection, nine years for bribe-taking and seven for bending the law for selfish ends. But in total, his sentence is 15 years and he may serve far less if given parole.

Wang's lawyers have said he will not appeal. Analysts say there would be little point since his sentence will have been decided at a high level due to the sensitivity of the case.

According to Xinhua, he told judges during the hearings that he confessed and repented his crimes, adding: "For the Party organisations, people and relatives that have cared for me, I want to say here, sincerely: I'm very, very sorry. I've let you down."

While coverage of the trial has been strictly controlled, a powerful editorial by business magazine Caixin's editor-in-chief Hu Shuli - published before the sentencing - said Wang had no choice but to enter the US consulate.

"When mafia members break up with their bosses, they can attempt to seek police protection. But in Chongqing and for the former police boss, there was nowhere to turn. And this perhaps encapsulates one of the greatest embarrassments of the country's current legal system," she wrote.

Wang stood trial in hearings over two days in the southwestern city last week. The first day was held secretly because it touched on state secrets, according to his lawyer. The second was watched by a carefully vetted audience of a few dozen people.

An official statement on his trial, issued by the court, had already hinted heavily that he would be treated leniently - with prosecutors citing factors such as his confession and the fact that he had given information on other people to investigators.

Although it mentioned him only by position, rather than name, it described him scolding and hitting Wang after he alleged that Gu had murdered Heywood.

The court had heard that Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu several days later, after he had been removed from police duties and three staff members had been illegally detained. There, he repeated his allegations to US diplomats - leading to British demands for a reinvestigation of Heywood's death last November. It had initially been ascribed to excessive alcohol consumption.